Happy Birthday America

This weekend America celebrates 234 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Compared to other nations of the world, America is more like a teenager. I was watching a movie recently where US armed forces needed to enter a tunnel beneath a museum in Eastern Europe. The museum curator told the general, "I don't care who you are, this museum is older than your country and you will not dig a hole in the middle of it!"

That got me thinking and as I was contemplating what to write in honor of my country's birth, it became apparent I should concentrate on her age. Through that lens, I believe many of the problems we face as a nation today can be explained. So please permit me this deviation from my usual format (writing about the spiritual walk) as I delve into politics for just a bit today.

As an infant and then young nation, America, like children, followed without hesitation the teachings of our parents (the founding fathers). The bible and prayer were permitted in schools, we sought God during major times of crisis, and despite what our most recent President declared in 2009, America was a nation based on Jude0-Christian principles.

But then, like humans, as America entered her prepubescent years around the turn of the 20th Century, she started to shun the teachings of her fathers and seek her own path. Like many preteens, America turned to her peer group for identity and took on many of the teachings of Europe; including removing the Bible and prayer from school and replacing it with humanistic and evolutionary teachings.

As a full-fledged teen, by the end of the 20th century and now into the first decade of the 21st century, America has completely immersed herself in the identity of her peer group; taking on the very socialist, high tax, big government identity our fore fathers fought to gain independence from 234 years ago.

It is my hope, that like humans, as America continues to mature and reaches her "mid 20's," she will realize the founding fathers were men of wisdom and return to their teachings, shoving off this false identity she has taken in her rebellious years. You've heard it said that as children we think our parents are the smartest, strongest people on earth. As teens and young adults we think our parents are the weakest and dumbest people on earth; and sometime after graduating college and perhaps starting our own family, we realize just how smart and strong our parents actually are.

It is my hope America continues to mature and in doing so realizes just how smart the founding fathers were and returns to her roots; roots that include God and true freedom for all.

Happy birthday America. Long may your flag of freedom wave!